Goodbye, my dearest Lola

Yesterday morning, my beloved dog Lola died tragically. We went out for a routine early morning birding walk in some agricultural fields near home. I watched pipits and wagtails and chats, she sniffed around in the bushes. On the way home she developed first signs of distress. By the time we got back home few minutes later, her condition started to deteriorate quickly. By her symptoms it was clear to me that she had been poisoned. With the help of a friend we got her to a vet quickly, but she couldn't be saved and died. Such a horrible, cruel and unnecessary end for the loveliest of dogs.

Lola arrived to our family shortly after October 7th, two years ago. She came from a village close to the Gaza border that was attacked by Hamas. When I picked her up, in the car, the radio played 'Lola' by The Kinks, and I decided to name her Lola. 

When she arrived at our house, she made us smile for the first time after October 7th. She brought so much happiness and comfort to our traumatized family. Very quickly she fit into our family, and developed a deep relationship with each one of us. The kids loved her so much. Here she is with my daughter Libby.

Lola learned her role as my birding companion instantly, and enjoyed our birding sessions together very much. She was perfect in the field. She adjusted her behavior to mine when I was birding and was very attentive to me, she stopped when I stopped, walked on when I did. She was so patient and quiet. Since eBird added the option to upload habitat photos, she appeared in my eBird checklists too.

Because she was so perfect in the field, I always took her with me when I was out birding, also with other people. Because of her friendly and calm nature, she was loved by so many people. She enjoyed going with me to my regular birding locations such as the Jerusalem Bird Observatory. Thanks Amir for these photos from Friday, a day before she died. Here she is positioned at her regular spot by the ringing table:

It was the annual ringers meeting, that included food - she was on the lookout for a quick bite:

She loved Piki very much and he loved her back. Thanks Piki for these photos:

With birding friends:

She had a special BFF, Leila. They loved each other so much and spent lots of time together.

Goodbye my dear, beloved dog. I miss you so much. My birding will not be the same without you.

Those ears

Best of autumn

These past few weeks have been super busy for me. I have been doing more fieldwork than I usually do, especially with a raptor count that we did in northern Israel. It has been an excellent autumn/fall migration, with good numbers of many common migrants. I enjoy this kind of birding very much. Admittedly there have been few proper rarities recently, but I'd rather marvel at spectacular migration every day than go twitching. 

On September 11th I was out in Maagan Michael, doing my routine monthly monitoring of our restoration project there. Halfway during a point count, I spotted a Pectoral Sandpiper that walked into view for two seconds, then disappeared from view before the two others with me could see it. I had to wait in agony until the 10-minute point count was over, to walk around the corner and confirm the all-too-brief ID. It was.

This sweet Eastern Black-eared Wheatear was one of many migrants present that day.

On September 16th my organisations (SPNI) has an event for our employees on the beach in Tel Aviv. I co-led one of the free walks we offered our staff, and found this White-tailed Lapwing on the beach - super unusual in urban Tel Aviv, a harbinger of a small influx that brought five birds to Tel Aviv. 

On September 19th I led a pelagic trip into the Gulf of Aqaba, on behalf of Eilat Birding Center. Only one bird came into the chum slick, but that bird was a Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel that showed very well for a couple of minutes. 

Before the pelagic Piki and I checked the KM20 saltpans that were full of common shorebirds. Among the less common shorebirds was this lovely Broad-billed Sandpiper:

September 23rd was a day of massive raptor migration over Israel. I was not out counting that day, I was busy doing all kinds of things, but the 36 minutes I could spare in my garden, watching the sky, were awesome: 2360 Lesser Spotted Eagle and 1420 Levant Sparrowhawks that went through in several tight flocks like this one:

I enjoyed connecting with two beautiful young Red Knots on Maagan Michael beach on September 26th - scarce birds in Israel, but this is THE place and time for them in our country:

Local birding has been awesome too, with some reservoirs holding large amounts of birds. Check this sweet flock of Whiskered Terns (and a Pied kingfisher):

On Yom Kippur (October 2nd) my birding/checklist streak had to continue, so I walked out of home to check the adjacent fields, unusually carrying my camera. Those were days of big European Bee-eater migration, and this wonderful flock perched on a mulberry looked especially glamorous:

On Cotober 3rd I was counting raptors in Gvat. Take-off was impressive, the Lesser Spotted Eagles struggled to gain altitude, and sailed past me very low, some of them very close. 

This one had a metal ring on, I couldn't read the code:

Steppe Eagle

On October 4th I was point-counting at our restoration site in Kfar Ruppin for a study we're doing there. Phenomenal amounts of birds still (eBird checklist here). After the point counts it was getting hot yet the alfalfa fields were full of birds. I found a Richard's Pipit which was a bit nice:

This shrike duo, Great Gray Shrike on left, and Lesser Gray Shrike on right, allowed good comparison. Both are so beautiful.

On October 6th I was counting soaring birds again, this time in Afek National Park, in central Israel. Raptor migration was quieter (eBird checklist here), but pelican migration was awesome:

Finally, a Spotted Flycatcher, one of many seen at Nafha on October 9th. In my eyes, this is a great example of a birds that isn't colourful at all, nevertheless it is so pretty. 

May the rest of the autumn continue to be so good!

Phenomenal

On Monday (8 September 2025) morning I worked at our restored wetland in Kfar Ruppin, Amud Reservoir. I collected there data for a study we're doing with researchers from Ben Gurion University, looking at the biodiversity impact of our restoration work there, and linking it with environmental attributes of our site. It was a phenomenal morning, one to write home about. I arrived few minutes late, at first light. As soon as I stepped out of the car I witnessed thousands and thousands of birds already leaving their roosts in the reservoir, twirling in the air, flying at all directions - Little Egrets, Pygmy Cormorants, Glossy Ibis, Turtle Doves, Barn Swallows, and Western Yellow Wagtails. It was pretty chaotic. I worked especially hard to count them all - I really needed extra eyes and fingers but I was alone. I hope I did OK. I  had to use estimates for some species. Of course I had no time to document this terrific rush of birds.

After the big numbers had left the roost, there were still thousands of birds in the reservoir. At this time of year, as is natural in Mediterranean wetlands this time of year, water levels are very low, creating large mud expanses and shallow water, that attracted loads of shorebirds, ducks, storks, herons, spoonbills etc. The reedbeds were teaming with warblers. In the following videos (taken through Swarovski Optik ATX85), turn the volume on a listen to all the bird sound in the background:

An Osprey was munching on a large fish it had caught:

As soon as there was enough light, I became aware of a true spectacle. Hundreds of Honey Buzzards roosted inside the reservoir, and several hundreds more in trees along the adjacent Jordan River. Many of them flew out of the vegetation onto the mud, some just loafed around, others drank some water before taking off. 

When it heated up they start taking off, circling low over the reservoir, slowly picking up altitude in thermals as the air temperature rose. I stood there in the middle of their take-off, surrounded by Honey Buzzards of all colours and morphs,  in all directions, some below me inside the reservoir, some above me, some so close I could hear their wingbeats and they flapped by. It was a powerful, almost transcendental experience. 

I think that this male has some Oriental genes, with an orange eye, faint carpals, and broad terminal tail band:

There was one proper Oriental Honey-Buzzard among the 2800 Europeans that took off. It was too low and quick, and I was too slow, so I failed to get a photo of it. 

I left the reservoir with my head buzzing with sooooo many birds. Check my eBird checklist here. One of my best checklists ever. 117 species, 14561 individuals, and this was an underestimate - there was no way to accurately count the countless warblers in the vast reedbed. 

Funny warbler

End of summer catch-up

Since my previous blogpost in late July I have seen lots of great birds, despite the heat and everything else going on here... These are some of the birds I saw during the end of summer and early autumn migration that is well underway now.

Eastern Bonelli's Warbler at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory

'Ehrenberg's' Redstart - Jerusalem Bird Observatory

White-throated Kingfisher - Jerusalem Bird Observatory

Long-eared Owl - Jerusalem Bird Observatory

Our restoration site at Maagan Michael is full of birds

Yavne 1 ponds are somewhat quiet this autumn, but I did find there to leg-flagged shorebirds. This Common Redshank was marked at Atlit on July 1st 2025 by Yosef Kiat. I saw it, 95 km south, on August 1st.

This Wood Sandpiper was marked at HaMaapil by Shai Blitzblau  on August 15th 2023. I saw it, 60 km south, on August 16th 2025. 

Yavne1 ponds

An unseasonal, surprisingly early Black-winged Pratincole (with a Collared Pratincole), at HaMaapil.

A trip down to Eilat provided some nice terns (without photos). While searching for the hypocolius family, without success, I saw some locally-produced youngsters.

Arabian Babbler

Kentish Plover

Trumpeter Finch kindergarten

White-throated Robin in the Negev, August 20th - stunning bird, part of a small wave mainly in southern Israel

Black Tern at HaMaapil

Greater Painted-Snipe - this individual has been around since 2021 (when it was ringed - can you see the ring?), mainly at HaMaapil